Many powdered supplements are available to be added to water or another liquid and have particular popularity with athletes and exercise programs. Such powdered supplements include, but are not limited to meal replacement powders, nutritional additives and protein supplements.
In the fitness community, athletes use protein supplements to increase performance and/or to help build muscle. These supplements typically come as powdered additives to be mixed with water before consumption. Many of these supplements are recommended to be taken after a workout. It is recommended that the protein supplements not be mixed in advance of consumption as the protein can denature in the water over time. As a result, many athletes bring a single portion of the powdered supplement with them to the gym and add it to water in a water bottle after their workout. If a powdered supplement is added to a traditional water bottle, shaking of the water bottle does not necessarily remove all the clumps of powder and does not result in a smooth textured drink.
Some specialty bottles for mixing protein shakes contain a wire whisk-like ball within the bottle. The whisk-like ball helps to mix the powdered supplement with the liquid in the bottle. To use this style of bottle, a user adds a liquid and supplement powder to the bottle, closes the bottle and shakes the contents. When the bottle is shaken, the wire whisk-like ball acts as an agitator to help dispense the clumped supplement. These specialty bottles do not provide an internal storage compartment for the powdered supplement. If a user would like to use the bottle for an alternate purpose, such as a water bottle prior to adding the protein powder, the powdered supplement must be separately stored. An example of this type of structure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,032.
It is known in a baby bottle having a nipple outlet at the top thereof to include an integrated chamber under the lid of a bottle for storage of powdered supplements. The user adds water to the bottle and stores powdered supplement in the integrated chamber of the lid. The lid is then typically screwed on the bottle. When the user wishes to prepare the beverage, the powder in the compartment is released and falls into the bottom vessel. This release of the powder introduces the powder into the liquid in the bottom vessel. The bottle is shaken to provide mixing of the powder and the liquid.
With this baby bottle, the powder compartment blocks the opening in the lid used to receive the contents. The fluid must flow through the compartment to exit through the lid. Thus, the baby bottle cannot be used as a water bottle prior to the mixing of the powdered supplement. Additionally the releasable bottom of the powder compartment is substantially flat and is not optimized for agitation.
Another style of bottle includes a series of sealable compartments which are temporarily stored in the bottom vessel. The compartments are approximately half the volume of the bottom vessel. The bottle design allows for water to flow from the bottom vessel and through a passage in the lid for consumption prior to the addition of the powdered supplements. To add the supplement, the user removes the lid, extracts the compartments and pours the contents of at least one compartment into the bottom vessel. Liquid is then added. The compartments are removed from the bottle when a drink is prepared. This design requires the removal of the lid and removal of the compartment to add the supplement to the liquid contained within. This is undesirable as many users do not wish to contaminate the supplement or the other compartments with any dirt on their hands.
There is a need for a bottle with an internal powdered supplement compartment in isolation from liquid contained in the bottle which can be released without need to open the bottle or contaminate the interior of the bottle. There is a further need for such a bottle to be additionally used as a water bottle prior to the addition of the supplement.